Car-coupling



UNITE STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WALTER RUTHERFORD, OF MEREDITH, NEW YORK.

CAR-COUPLING.

QPECIPICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 364,376, dated June '7, 1887.

Application filed March 22, 1887. Serial No. 231,971. (No model.)

- as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 represents a vertical longitudinal section of a car-coupling with my improvements, the same bein represented in the operation of coup ling. Fig. 2 is a horizontal section ofa housing with draw-bar. Fig. 3 is a front view ofa draw-head. l Fig. 4 illustrates the operation of the slide which closes the bolt-hole when the draw-heads are separated.

The draw-bars A are placer in housings or shells B, and each is provided with a head, the forward part of which is divided so as to form tongues or projections a and a and open ings or recesses 0 between them. As shown in the drawings, a tongue or 1)r'o jection,a',of each draw-head forms an outer guard when both heads are closed for coupling, the guard on of one draw-head being at the top and the other guard at the bottom, and the other tongues, (1, extending into the opposite recesses c.

The tongues a and a are perforated to form a vertical passage, 1), through all of them for the coupling-pin 0 when the drawheads'are closed for coupling. The rear end of each draw-bar extends through an aperture in the housing and is provided with a knob and a tensionspring, (Z.

E indicates slides placed in recesses in the draw-heads, each slide being in position to close a bolt-hole in one of the guards a, and when the draw-heads are uncoupled the slides are pressed forward by springs 6, thus closing the bolt-holes in the parts a. When the opposite draw-bars are driven together in coupling, the upper tongue, a, of one drawhead and the lower tongue of the opposite drawhead, entering opposite recesses 0, come in contact with limbs g of the slides, which are thus pushed backward until the bolt-holes in the several tongues are all in line, and the coupling-pin 0, having been previously placed in the bolt-hole at the top, so that it rests in a vertical position on a slide, E, falls downward into the passage b, and the coupling is thus effected automatically.

The drawbars are alike in construction, but are placed in reverse positions, as shown, to form the coupling, and the same draw-bar will answer for either part of the coupling or to attach to either end of a car. The forward part of the bar being broad and flat, it will keep its position in the frame or housing, and when it is desired to shift the position of the draw-head it may be turned over laterally in the housing or shell, which should be made large enough to permit such movement, and also allow free movement of the bar.

Having described my invention, I claim- 1. In a carcoupling, two draw-bars having heads which are provided with perforated tongues with recesses formed between them,- substantially as shown, and a spring-slide placed in a draw-head and adapted to close the bolt-hole and to receive pressure from a tongue of the opposite draw-head, substan tially as set forth and described. 7

2. In a carcoupling, the combination of two reversible draw-bars, the heads of which are each provided with tongues a and a, and a spring-slide, E, with a limb, g, and a coupling-pin, the parts being constructed and ar' ranged substantially as specified, for the purposes set forth.

In testimony whereof I have affixed my signature in presence of two witnesses.

ADELRERT I'IOLMES, O. E. HUBBELL. 

